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Last update - 00:53 11/02/2009
ELECTION DAY: ISRAEL GOES TO THE POLLS
Some 65% of Israeli voters turn out to cast their ballots
By Yossi Verter, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and AP
Tags: Likud, israel News, Kadima 

Click here for exclusive Haaretz coverage of the elections in Israel

Some 65 percent of eligible Israeli voters cast their ballots in the state's general elections on Tuesday.

This was approximately 2.5 percent higher than the number of votes gathered by the same time during the last elections in 2006.
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Early voter turnout was heavier than expected, standing at 41.9 percent of the electorate by 4 P.M. In contrast, only 39 percent of voters had cast their ballots by the same time in 2006.

Some 34 percent voters had turned up at the polls by 2 P.M., compared to a 31 percent of voters at the same time in 2006. If the voter turnout remains constant throughout the day, the final rate could reach 69 percent, as opposed to 63.5 percent in the 2006 vote.

Approximately 31 percent of voters had cast ballots by the same point during the last election in 2006. If the voter turnout remains constant throughout the day, the final rate could reach 69 percent, as opposed to 63.5 percent in the 2006 vote.


Nevertheless, the voter turnout was still low in comparison with other elections. By 2 P.M. during the 2003 elections, 35.3 percent of voters had cast ballots.

Voting for the 18th Knesset began at 7 A.M., in what has turned out to be a tight race between Kadima and Likud.

Voters in Jerusalem and other parts of Israel braved pouring rain and strong winds Tuesday morning, with the poor weather expected to keep numbers low. Voter turnout in the last election in 2006 was 63.2 percent, the lowest in Israel's history.

Prof. Avraham Diskin, who was overseeing the Central Elections Committee's exit poll, said the slight increase in voter turnout was due to the neck-and-neck race. Knesset officials, meanwhile, believe the bad weather would actually cause more Israelis to cast ballots, because they would be less likely to spend the day off work on trips far from their polling stations.

A total of 5,278,985 registered voters were to be given a chance to cast their ballot in 9263 polls across the country until 10 P.M, electing their representatives from among 33 factions.

The current national mood is at least partially linked to the rocket fire from Gaza that sparked Israel's recent offensive there and a sense among Israelis that territorial withdrawals - like the country's 2005 Gaza pullout - have only brought more violence.

Rami Golan, 60, a chef in Jerusalem, said Israel needed a strong government.

"We need a strong man who knows what he wants to do. We need someone who will keep us safe," Golan said. He had yet to decide who to vote for, he said. Polls over the weekend showed that some 20 percent of Israelis were still undecided.

Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces announced a closure of the West Bank from midnight Monday until midnight Tuesday, barring Palestinians from entering Israel except for urgent medical treatment. Such closures are routine at times like elections or religious festivals, when Israelis gather in public places and present a potential target for Palestinian terrorist attacks.

What started as one of the most boring, low-energy campaigns in memory has almost overnight turned into a political drama. But it is a drama with definite limits: It is already clear that the Likud-rightist-religious bloc will come out ahead. The question that generates the drama - whether Likud or Kadima will emerge as the largest party - is actually of secondary importance. Regardless of which party wins more votes, the candidate who gets the president's nod to try to form a government next week will be the one with the best chance of doing so.

If, as people from both parties claimed Monday, the gap between Likud and Kadima has continued to narrow, the race will be decided by three things: organization, organization and organization. All those floating voters will finally have to decide. They will not be happy with their choice, but they always end up voting. Voting and crying.

Exit polls are expected to start making projections as soon as polls close, with the first official results starting to come in before dawn Wednesday.

Acknowledging the closeness of the race, the Hebrew-language Ma'ariv daily published a reversible front page Tuesday with portraits of Netanyahu and Livni, each captioned "The next prime minister." The reader chooses which way up to hold the paper.

The final Haaretz poll before the election suggested a strong right-wing bloc, comprising Likud with 27 seats, Yisrael Beiteinu on 18 seats, ultra-Orthodox Shas with nine seats and a combined veteran party National Union and fledgling Habayit Hayehudi (the Jewish home) on six seats.

According to the poll, a center-left bloc would only be able to muster 54 seats, six short of the 61-seat threshhold needed to form a majority coalition. This bloc would consist of Kadima with 25 seats, Labor on 14 seats, New Movemment-Meretz on 7 seats, Jewish-Arab party Hadash on three seats, the United Arab List-Ta'al on three seats and predominantly Arab Balad with two seats.

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      1.   The Netanyahu - Lieberman - Feiglin government. 02:01  |  Fortuna Benmayor 10/02/09
      2.   Bibi threw Moshe Feiglin and Likud voters under the Bus! 02:03  |  Yosef 10/02/09
      3.   VOTE 02:38  |  Darrell 10/02/09
      4.   May the Israeli Right WIN 03:42  |  Arab American 10/02/09
      5.   1400 Palestinians killed in 3 weeks 03:47  |  Arab American 10/02/09
      6.   Israel is ready to sacrifice the whole world 03:49  |  Arab American 10/02/09
      7.   Likud-Kadima: same thing 03:51  |  Arab American 10/02/09
      8.   What democracy and what freedom 04:03  |  Arab American 10/02/09
      9.   I say it again, if Theodor Herzl was to live again in our days 04:12  |  Arab American 10/02/09
      10.   Badly written ellection leaflet 04:39  |  shlomo 10/02/09
      11.   KEEP ISRAEL IN ISRAELI HANDS;GO OUT AND VOTE FOR BIBI............ 05:31  |  glenna 10/02/09
      12.   Americans will Accept More Pressure on Netanyahu 05:56  |  DSK 10/02/09
      13.   Our "Right" To Vote 06:27  |  J 10/02/09
      14.   Placing a democratic face on apartheid 07:35  |  Natallie Durson 10/02/09
      15.   Good! 18 is a lucky number. May Israel prosper and grow powerful. 08:21  |  Yesh 10/02/09
      16.   GO OUT TO VOTE 09:10  |  George 10/02/09
      17.   Winner Party Must Visit Temple Mount . 09:11  |  Joseph.E 10/02/09
      18.   http://www.iris.org.il/katyusha.htm 09:12  |  Negev Girl 10/02/09
      19.   Fascisme or Nazism 09:13  |  Ber 10/02/09
      20.   THE TOP JOB = 1300 SOULS? 09:15  |  indrajaya 10/02/09
      21.   http://www.iris.org.il/katyusha.htm VOTE ANYTHING BUT LIVNI! 09:18  |  Negev Girl 10/02/09
      22.   Keep hope alive! Vote Kadima! 09:33  |  Ethan 10/02/09
      23.   Polishing the brasswork 09:33  |  Clickfool 10/02/09
      24.   regardless who wins the election 09:40  |  anyone 10/02/09
      25.   #2 I thought the other side cant vote in apartheid 09:54  |  UCLA MSU 10/02/09
      26.   VOTED LIKUD 09:59  |  Shayna 10/02/09
      27.   A Democratic face - response to #2 Natallie 10:05  |  Shayna 10/02/09
      28.   Negev Girl #5 10:08  |  Michael 10/02/09
      29.   Natallie`s remarkable worldview 10:08  |  Jacob 10/02/09
      30.   And why has Netanyahu looking so smug since the Gaza carnage? 10:11  |  Maureen Ann 10/02/09
      31.   #9 Polishing the brass...clickFOOL 10:12  |  Shayna 10/02/09
      32.   Durson... 10:30  |  Mikhael 10/02/09
      33.   Indrajaya... 10:38  |  Shlomo 10/02/09
      34.   Clickfool: 10:48  |  Sam 10/02/09
      35.   shayna you ignorent freak 10:56  |  Rex 10/02/09
      36.   Joseph E. ignorance is no excuse 11:00  |  Rex 10/02/09
      37.   vote PEACE 11:13  |  rambam 10/02/09
      38.   Shame On you Hypocrits 11:19  |  Danj 10/02/09
      39.   My debt to Maureen Ann 11:31  |  Sceptic 10/02/09
      40.   A new Knesset to finally bury Oslo ... 11:32  |  Sol 10/02/09
      41.   Elect Day 11:35  |  Dt 10/02/09
      42.   ARAB American.Kadima warned Hamas repeatedly to stop shelling 11:40  |  PETER SM 10/02/09
      43.   # 29 Jacob - It`s not complicated 11:40  |  Natallie Durson 10/02/09
      44.   MAUREEN But Hamas won remember.? Would they lie? 11:45  |  PETER SM 10/02/09
      45.   Vote for change: vote for Yesterday`s Dud, Netanyahu 11:47  |  Clickfool 10/02/09
      46.   to Arab American 12:02  |  ariel 10/02/09
      47.   # 30 maureeen 2nd atmt 12:22  |  The Teacher/Instruct 10/02/09
      48.   What will be interesting is tge turnout 12:36  |  Chris Linthwaite 10/02/09
      49.   # 32, SHLOMO 12:40  |  indrajaya 10/02/09
      50.   Clickfool # 23 The "Catastrophe" Has Already Occured 12:49  |  Jeff Northridge 10/02/09
      51.   For Sam # 33 12:59  |  Clickfool 10/02/09
      52.   Best advice I can give you 13:17  |  Clickfool 10/02/09
      53.   #11-Ice Cool Glenna in far away Alaska 13:42  |  Ari ben Yisrael 10/02/09
      54.   #23 polishing the brass monkey 13:54  |  Ari ben Yisrael 10/02/09
      55.   The strange Israel reality 14:18  |  Israeli citizen 10/02/09
      56.   Why if I love peace,I feel they as my enemies? A pity 14:22  |  Israeli 10/02/09
      57.   Let the Israelis abroad vote too! 14:23  |  Aaron 10/02/09
      58.   To Arab American 14:28  |  Aaron 10/02/09
      59.   Good for Jeff Northridge, Mr Clickfool as always you a stupid 14:30  |  The dumbite kid 10/02/09
      60.   I wish Lieberman would lead but I am dreaming 14:40  |  Avi 10/02/09
      61.   Iran will go live with nuke shortly - who should lead us? 14:44  |  Avi 10/02/09
      62.   #48 14:53  |  Proud of Israel 10/02/09
      63.   To Arab American: valid questions to be asked of the Palestinians 14:53  |  Avi 10/02/09
      64.   #51 15:02  |  Proud of Israel 10/02/09
      65.   # 52 Clickfool Mad eyes? 15:12  |  Natallie Durson 10/02/09
      66.   #59 Proud of Israel 15:15  |  Chris Linthwaite 10/02/09
      67.   #58 Avi 15:18  |  Chris Linthwaite 10/02/09
      68.   Natallie Durson 15:31  |  lady from USA 10/02/09
      69.   #64 Chris 15:33  |  Proud of Israel 10/02/09
      70.   To Arab American yes lets hope for Likud win 15:34  |  Johnny 10/02/09
      71.   Clickfool 15:35  |  lady from USA 10/02/09
      72.   Gotta be a bad day to be hamas, hezbollad today 15:40  |  Johnny 10/02/09
      73.   #6 Arab American 15:49  |  John Allen 10/02/09
      74.   For Jeff Northridge # 50 15:51  |  Clickfool 10/02/09
      75.   For Ari ben Yisrael # 54 15:53  |  Clickfool 10/02/09
      76.   #8 There you go again. 15:55  |  John Allen 10/02/09
      77.   To: Rex in Canada 15:58  |  Angel 10/02/09
      78.   The winning party must know.... 16:00  |  Son of Adam 10/02/09
      79.   #11 YES, YES , YES, YES and, YES 16:02  |  John Allen 10/02/09
      80.   To: Arab American 16:04  |  Angel 10/02/09
      81.   #14 Natalie, I wish it were. 16:04  |  John Allen 10/02/09
      82.   If Liberman 16:48  |  The Teacher/Instruct 10/02/09
      83.   democracy working 16:53  |  arik 10/02/09
      84.   To: Clickfool 16:53  |  Angel 10/02/09
      85.   Hey Arab American: Why you are so SELECTIVE? 17:11  |  Vittorio 10/02/09
      86.   #6 Arab American..Why,why and more why!! 17:12  |  Kathy 10/02/09
      87.   Clickfool # 74 Really? 17:31  |  Jeff Northridge 10/02/09
      88.   To Clickfool 17:39  |  Mo 10/02/09
      89.   clickfool 17:41  |  Mo 10/02/09
      90.   "Voting and crying" God help us lot. 17:42  |  Simon 10/02/09
      91.   Clickfools double contradiction 17:52  |  Sceptic 10/02/09
      92.   To: John Allen 17:56  |  Angel 10/02/09
      93.   #68 lady from USA-read and learn 18:02  |  ave 10/02/09
      94.   Likud will win BIG 18:09  |  Jewish Sharpshooter 10/02/09
      95.   Clickfools 74 double contradiction 18:22  |  Sceptic 10/02/09
      96.   Israel 18:24  |  Robert Mallek 10/02/09
      97.   same old Zionist vision 18:29  |  bashar 10/02/09
      98.   Americans telling Israelis how to vote? 18:33  |  catnap 10/02/09
      99.   Arab #4,5,6,7,8,9: Don`t call yourself American. You came to..... 18:34  |  Vittorio 10/02/09
      100.   Well, Well, Well...The Jihad 6 are chomping at the bit... 18:42  |  flyingdoc57 10/02/09
      101.   BIBI 18:57  |  Chuck 10/02/09
      102.   Throw Bibi under the bus! 19:11  |  Aaron 10/02/09
      103.   answer to maureen and all the "victims" 19:15  |  maurice 10/02/09
      104.   IS THIS A MIDDLE EAST ELECTION? 19:15  |  Ian 10/02/09
      105.   #75 the sussex FOOL 19:16  |  Ari ben Yisrael 10/02/09
      106.   99: Vittorio 19:17  |  Arab American 10/02/09
      107.   #75-FOOL- self praise is no recommendation 19:21  |  Ari ben Yisrael 10/02/09
      108.   Only the left could believe that Arab parties are "Left" 19:41  |  UsedToPostHere 10/02/09
      109.   re: Avi 19:24  |  UsedToPostHere 10/02/09
      110.   re: Arab American 19:26  |  UsedToPostHere 10/02/09
      111.   Sceptic #95 some points of interest 21:13  |  Roo 10/02/09
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